Customer Reviews

All About All About Eve: The Complete Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Bitchiest Film Ever Made!

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3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Juicy, irresistible reading. A great story about one of the great movies that's also the story of Hollywood in microcosm. It's packed with larger-than-life characters like Bette Davis, George Sanders, Darryl Zanuck, and of course Marilyn Monroe, and plenty of lesser-known but no less fascinating figures, like Elizabeth Bergner, the real-life Margo Channing upon whom the original story was based. It's also an intriguing mystery (was there a real Eve and who was she?)with an intriguing, satisfying wrapup--and with an ironic twist at the end. And the author tells his story in a unique, dramatic way, in the form of a novel, and weaves actual quotes in a way that you'll find hard to believe--but they're all documented. Amazing. All in all, one of the best and most enjoyable Hollywood books I've ever read. It would make a great movie.

ALL ABOUT EVE is one of my most favorite films ever, and when I saw this book on the shelf at work (I won't mention which bookstore I work for), I had to get it! That was 2 days ago, and I have not been able to put the book down! All of the behind the scenes scoops and sidebars of background and tangent items makes this book a must have for not only fans of the film, but of fans of film-making. This not a book of just bitchy quips and over-adoration on the part of the author. Rather, Mr. Staggs presents a book about a film that was about the theater (or Hollywood). I cannot gush about this book enough. Please read it (I am not getting paid to say that).

All About Eve is a cult film, a camp classic and an all-around tremendous movie that won six Oscars in 1950. It influenced the making of motion pictures to come and was the inspiration of the play "Applause." Somehow nobody wrote THE book on "All About Eve," its inspiration, its making, its reception and following, and how it lives on today--not until now. Now we have All About "All About Eve" and it's everything a fan could want.

Author Sam Staggs did a huge amount of painstaking research for this book, especially noteworthy because all of this fifty-year-old movie's principal players are dead (with one notable exception: Celeste Holm, who would not grant him an interview). Staggs locates the kernel of the movie in a magazine story, "The Wisdom of Eve," about a conniving young woman who befriends and then betrays an insecure older actress, "Margola Cranston." He goes beyond the magazine story to find the actual, real-life "Eve" figure and interviews her, finding that life and art are not necessarily the same.

All About "All About Eve"'s book jacket calls the film "the bitchiest film ever made." (There is room for disagreement--what about "Stage Door"? "The Women?" "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"?)

But the movie was a solid career-starter for Marilyn Monroe as Miss Caswell, "a graduate of the Copacabana School of Dramatic Arts." Otherwise, Staggs' thesis is controversial, and probably makes Celeste Holm furious: "For others in the cast--Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Gary Merrill, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter, and for [writer/director Joseph] Mankiewicz himself--All About Eve was the climax. . . . If not for this movie, half the cast would be forgotten." Pretty harsh stuff.

After its thunderous critical and box-office success, "Eve" went on to become the movie that never really faded from conscious-ness thanks to revivals and TV broadcasts. As Staggs says, "[t]he subtext has beguilded several generations of devotees, largely gay men, who have 'read' the film as though it beamed a limelight into the closet of their hearts." Margo Channing, woman on the edge; Birdie Coonan, the buddy with common sense; and Addison DeWitt, serpentine critic, have their camp charms delineated here.

Some critics have said that at 340 pages of text All About "All About Eve" may be too much of a good thing. Take this simple test: Of course everyone knows that "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night" comes from the movie. Do you also thrill to lines like "Shucks, and I sent my autograph book to the cleaners," "Eve evil, Little Miss Evil," or "The minutes will fly like hours"? If you do, then this book is for you. It's a great read, and to turn Addison DeWitt's quip rightside-up where it belongs, the hours will fly like minutes.

One of the most talked about movies from the 1950s, the plot and dialogue from All About Eve is part of American pop culture. Sam Staggs has written an exhaustive account of the making of the movie, from the projects conception to its completion, and beyond. The beyond part is more than one needs to know and it detracts from the overall work. If Staggs had ended the book at the 1950 Academy Awards, I would have found this book to be a more enjoyable read. However, the digression into the making of Applause (a musical based on Eve) seems way out of place and who really cares. Applause, unlike Eve, just doesn't have much relevance today. Staggs writes enthusiastically about the subject, but at some points it's almost scary, like some wacky Star Trek fan. I like the movie and understand it's impact, but it's not as important or relevant to most people on the planet as it is to Mr. Staggs and his friends. Having said all that, there is a lot to enjoy in this book, and for the most part, Staggs is a good story teller. If I were the editor, I would have kept to the facts and dumped the other stuff in the trash, or saved it for another book, which would have been more appropriate. If you're a film buff, there is plenty to like about All About All About Eve in spite of itself.

A few good tidbits here, but way too much extranneous gushing. And where were the proofreaders and copy editors? Here's one small example of an unfortunate mistake, on page 8: "...Mankiewicz had just started All About Eve, a film that, while technically about Hollywood rather than Broadway, in fact amounted to exploratory surgery on the dysphoric underbelly of show business." Of course he meant to say, "while technically about Broadway rather than Hollywood...." It's just one of dozens of examples of extreme sloppiness that casts doubt on the whole enterprise. Too bad, too -- this could have been a really great must-have book for all movie fans. Instead, it's really a wasted opportunity.

Sam Staggs has written a very entertaining account of how "All About Eve" came to be. Everyone knows this film was Bette Davis' finest hour. Not all was sweet and cozy on the set. Davis became a lifetime friend of Anne Baxter and an arch enemy of Celeste Holm. The book details her rocky marriage to Gary Merrill and the rocky career of George Sanders. This was one of Marilyn Monroe's first films and she was not treated kindly by her fellow actors. The entire book, however, is not about bitch fights and tantrums. Staggs covers every aspect of its production from directing, scenic design, editing...you name it.The film was based on a true incident that happened to actress Elisabeth Bergner in 1944. Many years later he finds the real "Eve Harrington" in Ms Bergner's life. Her identity is revealed and so is her story.The book sags somewhat when Staggs writes at great length as to why the film has such a gay following. That part of the book is very interesting, but he does go on a bit at length.The interest picks up again when he tells of the making of "Applause", the Lauren Bacall Broadway musical, that is based on the story by Mary Orr. Or was it?All in all it is a very interesting read with a few dragging moments and a few innacuracies. Well worth the time however.

This book has a fun-sounding premise and, indeed, it does offer some fun and interesting tidbits about the making of one of Hollywood's wittiest films. This works well until the author starts throwing in suppositions and references to the film and alternative lifestyles. This is when the book bogs down and loses interest. It does, however, start to pick up again when he tells the story of Mary Orr and the real Eve. Altogether, not as much fun as I hoped it would be, but it does have a certain value for students and devotees of classic Hollywood.

This is an almost encyclopedic description of the greatest "backstage" movie ever made (along with "Stage Door"), 1950's Oscar-winner "All About Eve." Believe the title: This is all about the movie, and people who haven't seen the movie or who don't like it will indeed find this stuffed with too much information.

That caveat aside, this is a superb book, taking both a lowbrow and highbrow analysis of the Joseph L. Mankiewicz scripted and directed film starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Thelma Ritter, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Ratoff, and Hugh Marlowe. Author Sam Staggs takes us behind the on- and off-stage scenes, to deliver the subtext of the movie: The various meanings transacted among the text--the film itself--and its audience (including those who made the film). There are brawls, feuds, insults, lawsuits, legal challenges, large egos, and a Rashomon-like recollection of who said what to whom more than 50 years ago.

Staggs tells the real event on which "Eve" is based, and then traces its evolution from short story to film. (We later meet the "real" Eve Harrington, as Staggs turns sleuth). The book is juicy, but the prose is occasionally overripe: Drawing a flimsy parallel between the fire in his brother's film Citizen Kane, and the real fire that (much later) consumed a van filled with many of Joe Mankiewicz's belongings, Staggs writes: That final fire at Xanadu, and the later one that consumed the Mankiewicz moving fan, rhyme like a combustible couplet." Really now! Fortunately, such purple prose is rare. Staggs give you the dish on "the bitchiest movie ever made," but he also dwells like a scholar on technical aspects of the film, including lighting, costumes, script revisions, editing, casting decisions, and art direction, to name a few.

There's an excellent section on the special meanings of the movie to some members of the gay subculture, and how it has influenced (and been influenced by) general culture as well ("Eve" was acted out in movie houses long before "The Rocky Horror Picture Show.") Again, Staggs makes a deft transition between "hi-brow" and "low-brow" culture and criticism, the former represented by his command of film semiotics, the latter by his references to "Hollywood Babylon" and porn films influenced by the movie.

It's a fun and informative book, and I can't imagine any fan of the movie, or movies in general, not liking it. (But remember we're talking "fan" here). With 16 pages of black and white photos, an index, and sidebars (e.g., "No [sic] Innuendos Please-We're Anglo-Saxon" is a half-page box showing the lines cut by censors in Massachusetts and in Australia.) Highly recommended!

Fans of "All About Eve" will enjoy this exploration of the making of a classic. It's hard to put down and consistently entertaining. A perfect companion piece for the film as the backstage story of a backstage story of life in the theater from a life in Hollywood viewpoint. Celeste Holm's remarks are particularly revealing. You could say this is a bitchy look at a bitchy movie and it's well worth the read. Don't miss this one.

If you want more of All About Eve that goes beyond just watching it again, this is the book for you. This isn't any kind of scholarly analysis, nor is it a work of pure gossip. It's an intelligent and informed discussion of how this brilliant film came to be. It's purely shocking how every single part could have gone to several others, fascinating and sometimes sad to read how these great actors interacted with each other. Staggs also includes discussion of the short story on which the film was based, and discussion of the reality on which that story was based. I enjoyed knowing that all the more since I wasn't really familiar with Broadway Theater of the time or its great stars. We also learn that there was a sequel short story More About Eve. My only disappointment with All About All About Eve was that the author didn't see fit to include the short story, or its follow-up in the book, nor even to explain why he didn't. That would have been very interesting reading.